Seeking the Shadow of a Love
by Xerexs
Summary: I’m so tired of pretending to be your friend. I’m so tired of entertaining your sad hope that one day I would love you. It’s humans like you that remind me why I want to rid myself of my human side forever. (IK romance... really!)


AN: This is my second attempt at an Inuyasha fanfic. The first attempt was okay, but I had no idea where to go with it so I gave up. That and I only got two reviews for the first chapter O_o. Anyways, hopefully I'll get more reviews for this one, I'm really proud of this story, and I am definitely going to finish this one. I think it's going to be about 6 chapters but we'll see. Anyways, happy reading. ^_^  
  
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Seeking the Shadow of a Love  
  
by Xerexs  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Kagome stopped short and shot a nervous glance into the woods surrounding her. It had been a long day of traveling through various forests like most of the days she spent in the Feudal era. Nothing had been out of the ordinary but something was different about the woods they were now walking through. Kagome wasn't sure if any of her other companions noticed the irking aura of the shadowy trees around them, but the menacing atmosphere certainly had her spooked.  
  
There was something wrong with the shadows of the trees. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was amiss. It was as though the shadows were teasing her. Like they were moving but every time she would turn to look they would appear as normal shadows. 'Maybe all this traveling has finally made me crazy.' Kagome thought and quickly turned back to her companions and caught up to them.  
  
Kagome's odd behavior hadn't escaped the attention of the irritable hanyou leading the motley group. Not only was she falling behind but her heartbeat was rapid and her breathing short. He had also picked up the faint smell of fear that hanyou's were sensitive to.  
  
"What the hell is the matter with you today?" Inuyasha spat as Kagome finally caught up with the group.  
  
"These woods are giving me the creeps! I think the sooner we get out of here the better." She said nervously glancing around at the woods again.  
  
"Feh, you humans are so easily scared. I don't sense anything." Inuyasha said surveying the woods. He smelled the air deeply but could not pick up anything threatening.  
  
"I don't feel anything either. What kind of bad feeling Kagome?" Sango asked her friend.  
  
"I don't trust the shadows." Kagome said quietly, knowing that her friends were a little puzzled by her behavior.  
  
"Maybe you're just tired after a long day of travel?" Miroku asked encouragingly.  
  
"What you need is some dinner and some sleep." Shippo said hopping from Kirara's back to Kagome's shoulder. Kagome smiled weakly at the little kitsune.  
  
"You're probably right, I'm just tired. Everything is spookier when you're tired, right?" Kagome said trying to convince herself.  
  
"Why don't we set up camp for tonight? It's been a long day and we could all use some rest." Sango said leaning Hirakotsu against a large tree trunk.  
  
"You want to sleep here? There's no way I'll be able to sleep in this creepy place. Why don't we keep going until we get out of here. I'm not that sleepy really." Kagome said stifling a nervous yawn. Shippo giggled at Kagome's poor lying skills.  
  
Miroku and Sango began setting up camp. Kagome let out a sigh and put her pack down. She searched through her pack and took out some cup ramen, she really couldn't stand the taste of it anymore but her friends still couldn't get enough of it.  
  
After Inuyasha thoroughly checked around the campsite for anything suspicious the rest of the group sat around the campfire and devoured their supper. Kagome ate slowly as she watched the shadows of the trees dance in the light of the fire. Inuyasha quietly took note of Kagome's anxiety as he scarfed his cup ramen.  
  
Once everyone had their fill of ramen everyone settled in for a deserved rest. Kagome climbed into her sleeping bag even though she knew she would never sleep. The shadows were still playing games with her and it was frightening and frustrating at the same time.  
  
"I'll protect you Kagome." Said a puffed up Shippo as he hopped inside Kagome's sleeping bag with her. "You can sleep easy knowing that a strong Kitsune is watching over you!" Kagome just giggled at the ridiculous little creature that was cuddling her.  
  
"Don't be stupid runt, you couldn't protect a fish from drowning. Why don't you go sleep with Kirara tonight so that you have someone to protect you." Inuyasha said from a low tree limb near Kagome's sleeping bag.  
  
"But..." Shippo said making the saddest looking puppy face at Kagome that he possibly could.  
  
"It's alright Shippo. You wouldn't want to sleep with me tonight anyway, I'll be tossing and turning all night." Kagome then added at a whisper with a wink, "Plus you know it will pump up Inuyasha's ego if you let him think he's protecting me."  
  
Kagome smiled inwardly as the Kitsune beamed and the hanyou in the tree snorted under his breath. Shippo then ran over to Kirara and snuggled up for the night in her fluffy tail.  
  
Kagome laid in her sleeping bag silently watching the fire flicker for a few minutes. After everyone else around the campfire was asleep she heard Inuyasha quietly make his way beside her. Kagome sat up and looked over at Inuyasha to see a concerned look on his face. Inuyasha was only a few inches from her and he was leaning against a nearby tree.  
  
"I don't know what has you so scared, but whatever it is you know I'll protect you Kagome." Inuyasha said staring at her intently.  
  
"I know." Kagome said moving her gaze to the crackling fire. Suddenly she felt something pulling her, sleeping bag and all. Inuyasha drew her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"You should get some sleep, we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow." He said resting his chin in her hair.  
  
Kagome sighed, it had been a while since the last time the hanyou had gotten anywhere near this close to her. It never ceased to amaze her how gentle he could be when he was in the mood.  
  
Soon Kagome was slipping into sleep forgetting all about the mischievous shadows. She was surrounded by the warmth of Inuyasha's body, his comforting scent of sweat and pine needles, and the lightheaded feeling she got whenever she was this close to him. The world around her slipped away.  
  
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Kagome woke up and the warmth she had felt while falling asleep was completely gone. She was lying on the ground without her sleeping bag and without Inuyasha. The fire was burning very low and the forest around her appeared even more menacing than before. She looked around the fire expecting to see her friends but they were no where to be seen. She was all alone.  
  
Or at least she thought she was until she spotted Inuyasha lying on the tree branch he had been on earlier that night.  
  
"Where did everyone go?" Kagome asked looking around the fire to see if there was any indication of where her friends or sleeping bag had gone. When Inuyasha didn't answer her she looked up at him again but couldn't see his face. He was the lightest sleeper she knew so he couldn't be asleep. "Inuyasha? What's going on?" She asked completely confused and a little nervous.  
  
"Oh come on Kagome, we both know what's going on." Inuyasha said gruffly. "You have to stop kidding yourself. Just accept it already."  
  
Kagome looked down at the dying fire trying to gather her thoughts. She tried to think of anything that had happened before she fell asleep that might explain what was going on but nothing came to mind.  
  
"What on earth are you talking about? Get down here and tell me where everyone is. This forest is still giving me the creeps, I want to get out of here."  
  
Inuyasha suddenly jumped down and crouched in front of Kagome. His expression was blank and cold, completely opposite from the way he had looked at her only hours before.  
  
"Why do you think we're in this crappy forest? Why do you think we travel around and fight demons all day? Why do you think I waste all my time wandering around with a stupid group of humans and weaklings?" Inuyasha spat at a stunned Kagome.  
  
"It's all your fault. You broke the Shikon no Tama. You scattered the shards all over the place so now I have to spend my days chasing down rumors and helping lowlifes. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all of it. I wish you had never come through the well in the first place."  
  
Kagome sat on the ground feeling the lump in her throat get bigger. She literally thought she could feel her heart breaking in her chest. Inuyasha's eyes were dull and terrible. She could hardly recognize him as the hanyou she loved. Tears began to fall down her face as she helplessly stared at the cruel Inuyasha in front of her.  
  
"And this whole time I kept you around because I thought you could help me find all the jewel shards. Considering the amount of times I've had to rescue your worthless hide you weren't worth the trouble. I'm so tired of pretending to be your friend. I'm so tired of entertaining your sad hope that one day I would love you. It's humans like you that remind me why I want to rid myself of my human side forever." Inuyasha said standing up.  
  
The tears gushed down Kagome's face as all of her deepest fears suddenly came to life. She watched as Inuyasha heartlessly turned around and started to slowly walk away.  
  
Kagome tried to say something but her tongue wouldn't move. Kagome tried to make a noise but not so much as a sound came out of her mouth. She tried to stand up but her limbs wouldn't work. She was tied to the ground and was forced to watch as the man she loved walked out of sight and into the shadows of the forest.  
  
Her inability to let any of her emotions escape through anything but her tears was making Kagome dizzy. She needed to scream. She needed to sob. She needed to run. She needed to collapse. She needed to do anything but just sit there rigidly.  
  
Her bottled emotions threatened to make the already destroyed Kagome explode. When she finally got to the point where her breathing became labored and the world around her started to close around her she welcomed the darkness. Kagome surrendered to the shadows and lost consciousness.  
  
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Inuyasha opened his eyes and quickly surveyed his surroundings. He was on the ground leaning against a tree. The campfire was only embers now but the sky was still dark. He was also clutching something. He was clutching an empty sleeping bag.  
  
'What the hell is going on? Where's Kagome? How did I fall asleep?' Inuyasha wondered as he groggily stood up looking around. He sniffed the air deeply but Kagome's scent had faded and there wasn't a trail to follow.  
  
Inuyasha jumped up to his branch and tried to smell the air more deeply but without success. His ear twitched as he heard his other friends finally wake up.  
  
Both Miroku and Sango were slowly shaking off their drowsiness and walking towards the alarmed hanyou.  
  
"Where's Kagome?" Sango asked Inuyasha. Inuyasha let out a low growl of frustration in response.  
  
"Kagome's missing?" Shippo cried as Kirara walked towards the others with him on her back. "Why didn't you protect her? Why did you let Kagome leave?"  
  
"Shut up brat!" Inuyasha snapped at Shippo. "I was protecting her!"  
  
"Then why did she disapear?"  
  
Inuyasha growled again. "Something made me fall asleep." He said looking down at Kagome's empty sleeping bag on the ground.  
  
"I think Kagome may have been right. There's something wrong with this forest." Miroku said picking up his jingling staff. "There's some sort of magic at work here."  
  
"What do you think it is Hoshi-sama?" Sango asked.  
  
"It seems like the work of a powerful yokai. I don't know of anything else that has enough magic to put Inuyasha to sleep. The sun should be rising by now but it's still twilight. And I think I'm beginning to sense the menace of the forest that Kagome had felt." Miroku said.  
  
"How are we going to get Kagome back?" Shippo asked desperately.  
  
"The same way we always get her back when some stupid yokai captures her. We're going to find that son of a bitch, I'm going to kick his ass, and then we'll continue looking for the Shinkon shards." Inuyasha said gruffly as he jumped down from his branch.  
  
"But how are you going to do that if you don't know who took her or where she is? I can't even pick up a good scent trail!" Shippo whined burrying his face in Kirara's fur.  
  
"Then I'm just going to have to improvise. Somehow I'll get her back and I'll make that bastard pay." Inuyasha said as he leapt through the trees beginning his search for Kagome.  
  
"Typical. He'll run head first into danger first and ask questions later." Miroku mumbled to himself.  
  
"Come on Hoshi-sama." Sango said jumping onto Kirara, making sure not to sit on Shippo. Miroku followed suit and Kirara bounded into the sky following the surly hanyou.  
  
To be continued...  
  
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AN: So what did you think? Have I sucked you into my story? Please leave me a review! I beg you! Tell me what you like, what you didn't like, tell me about your dog. I really don't care, tell me anything! I'm going to post the second chapter as soon as I can (definitely within the week) but I'll be inclined to post faster if I have the proper motivation ::cough cough:: REVIEWS! ::cough:: hehe. So please review, and any constructive criticism would be well appreciated. If you think something's wrong with my story call me on it! Even though I have planned the rest of the story I'm still very open to suggestions! Love ya! ^_^ 


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